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Motherhood by the Numbers

The driving force behind Mother's Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in West Virginia and Pennsylvania more than 100 years ago – May 10, 1908, to be exact. As the annual celebration became more popular around the United States, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers, and in 1914 Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. Here's a look at today's mothers by the numbers.

20 percentThis is the number of all U.S. women ages 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent have no children; 17 percent have one; 10 percent have three and about 5 percent have four or more. Source: U.S. Census

Save the Children

800Each day, about 800 mothers and 18,000 children younger than 5 years old die from largely preventable causes. More than half of these deaths take place in fragile settings, which are at high risk of conflict and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters. Source: Save the Children's 15th annual State of the World's Mothers report

Photo provided by Save the Children: Mothers with their babies in Chad. Chad is ranked at 170 in this year's State of the World's Mothers report.

25.8 years oldThis is the average age of women in the Unied States in 2012 when they gave birth for the first time, which was up from 25.6 years in 2011. The increase in the average age reflects the decline of births to women in their teen years and their 20s. Source: U.S. Census

Photo provided by Save the Children: A mother with a 3-week-old baby in a displacement camp in a monastery in Bangui, which houses thousands of IDPs sheltering from the sectarian fighting going on in Bangui, Central African Republic.

5 millionIn 2013, there were 5 million stay-at-home moms in U.S. married-couple family groups, which was statistically unchanged from 2012 and 2011. In 2013, 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children younger than 15 had a stay-at-home mother, which is up from 21 percent in 2000. Source: U.S. Census

Save the Children

56 percentThis is the percentage of maternal and child deaths that take place in fragile settings – countries or regions in the midst of, or emerging from, a recent humanitarian emergency. Source: Save the Children's 15th annual State of the World's Mothers report

Photo provided by Save the Children: Awa waits at a health post with her son Modiba, 2, for medication to treat severe malnutrition and malaria in Sakasso Region, Mali.

94 percentThis is the percentage of the 37.8 million U.S. mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2004 who lived with their biological children only. In addition, 3 percent lived with stepchildren, 2 percent with adopted children and 0.5 percent with foster children. Source: U.S. Census

Save the Children

250 millionMore than 250 million children younger than 5 years old live in countries affected by armed conflict. Source: Save the Children's 15th annual State of the World's Mothers report

Photo provided by Save the Children: Soleil, 20 years old, gave birth to both of her children in the bush, after she fled armed fighting in her village.